Sunchaser

Sunchaser

Poster design by Dan Chapman[1]
Directed by Michael Cimino
Produced by Michael Cimino
Arnon Milchan
Larry Spiegel
Judy Goldstein
Joseph S. Vecchio
Written by Charles Leavitt
Starring
Music by Maurice Jarre
Cinematography Douglas Milsome
Edited by Joe D'Augustine
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
  • May 29, 1996 (1996-05-29) (France)
  • September 27, 1996 (1996-09-27) (U.S.)
Running time
 122 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $21,508 (Domestic)[2]

Sunchaser (titled on-screen as The Sunchaser) is a 1996 film directed by Michael Cimino and starring Woody Harrelson, Jon Seda and Anne Bancroft. It was director Cimino's last feature-length film.

Plot summary

"Blue" Monroe (played by Seda) is a 16-year-old juvenile offender (convicted of murdering an abusive stepfather) who is dying of abdominal cancer. Dr. Michael Reynolds (played by Harrelson) is Blue's rich, self-absorbed oncologist.

During a medical visit, Blue discovers that he has only a month to live and decides to escape. He kidnaps Dr. Reynolds and forces him to drive to Arizona to visit a mountain lake sacred to the Navajo people. The trip forces both to confront their sense-of-self and life choices.

Cast

Production

Mickey Rourke, collaborator and friend of Cimino, believes the director “snapped” sometime during the making of The Sunchaser. “Michael is the sort of person that if you take away his money he short-circuits,” Rourke says. “He is a man of honor.” Rourke did not say how or why Cimino “snapped.”[3]

Joe D’Augustine, the film's editor, recalls his first meeting with Cimino: “It was kind of eerie, freaky. I was led into this dark editing room with black velvet curtains and there was this guy hunched over. They bring me into, like, his chamber, as if he was the Pope. Everyone was speaking in hushed tones. He had something covering his face, a handkerchief. He kept his face covered. And nobody was allowed to take his picture [...] Welcome to Ciminoville.”[3]

Release

A theatrical release was intended but the film fared poorly enough with test audiences to go straight to video in the United States.[4] The film was entered into competition at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the Palme D'Or.[5][a 1]

Critical reception

The film received largely negative reviews. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Michael Cimino's return to filmmaking after a six-year layoff is a conceptually bold tale marked, in its execution, both by visceral intensity and dramatic sloppiness."[7] Jo-Ann Pittman wrote in Film Directors that Sunchaser had "a predictable and often laughable script. Not good considering it is a drama. The characters are stereotypical and the story again lacks direction. It attempts to handle too many stories at one time. The New Age mystical healing waters are cliche as is the kidnapper/victim story."[8] Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half stars: "Misbegotten mess tries to touch all trendy bases, scrambling American Indian mysticism, 'New Age' theories and buddy-movie clichés into the format of a road movie."[9]

Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times gave Sunchaser one of its few positive notices. While noting the predictability of the script, Thomas added, "Yet all that's so familiar in Charles Leavitt's script has been given a fresh, brisk spin by the sheer audacity and force of Cimino's style and by an incisive, wide-ranging performance by Harrelson..."[10]

References

Annotations

  1. ↑ The Cast and Filmmakers section of The Deer Hunter 2006 DVD incorrectly states that Sunchaser won the 1996 Palme d'Or.[6]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Sunchaser Poster". IMP Awards. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  2. ↑ "The Sunchaser". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  3. 1 2 Garbarino, Steve (March 2002). "Michael Cimino's Final Cut". Vanity Fair (499): pp. 232-235+250-252. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  4. ↑ Armstrong, Derek. "The Sunchaser review". All Movie Guide. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
  5. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Sunchaser". festival-cannes.com. 1996. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  6. ↑ The Deer Hunter: Bonus Materials: Cast and Filmmakers: Directed by Michael Cimino. [DVD; Disc 1/1; Page 4/5]. Universal Pictures. 2006.
  7. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (May 20, 1996). "The Sunchaser". Variety. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  8. ↑ Pittman, Jo Ann (September 21, 1999). "Michael Cimino". Film Directors.
  9. ↑ Maltin, Leonard (August 2008). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (2009 ed.). New York, NY: Penguin Group. p. 1341. ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9.
  10. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (October 25, 1996). "'Sunchaser' Leaves Beaten Path in Its Quest". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-05-14.

Further reading

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